False Flags
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Kate Stewart is bothered by her mind wandering, it's been happening since the thwarted Zygon invasion. Then she has an idea to pinpoint what's disturbing her. No one's mind should be unknown to them.
_**Disclaimer:** I own nothing._

 _ **Author Note:** Spoilers for the Twelfth Doctor episodes 'The Zygon Invasion' and 'The Zygon Inversion.' Also contains references to the Third Doctor story 'The Planet of the Spiders.'_

* * *

 **FALSE FLAGS**

Kate blinked and stared down at her desk. There was a file open in front of her; had she been reading that? The words didn't look familiar; in fact they were swimming a little before her. Kate blinked again and the words began to steady.

UNIT hours were long. Kate was quite used to that but occasionally she was reminded that she needed more rest than usual. She was very aware of that this week; her mind had been wandering which was unusual to say the least. It was as though she was losing time. If it continued to happen, she'd see the UNIT medical team. Being part of UNIT meant that the motto 'better safe than sorry' was always applicable.

It was no good trying to sleep at her desk; she remembered that very clearly.

* * *

It kept happening; Kate's mind wandering, more time getting lost. It was extraordinarily unnerving. She went to see UNIT's medical officers and received a clean bill of health. They took a few thorough scans, just in case. It could be any number of things thanks to the many unusual situations Kate came into contact with, though it had started after the Doctor's last visit...

Then she found a file on her desk that she didn't remember ordering up from storage. They were all kept electronically now anyway. Why had she ordered the paper version?

There were plenty of photographs – Zygons, when the UNIT troops had first faced them decades ago. Kate stared at them, something beginning to niggle at her. Because of the Zygons? Well, to see yourself like that...there was training for it; there had to be with Autons and Zygons and God knew what else that could replicate appearances so perfectly.

Kate looked through the file, the niggle getting stronger as she looked at lists of the UNIT troops present that day, who was there and who wasn't. And there was a note included that referenced another UNIT case involving the Doctor. The niggle spiked hard. Kate read the file twice and then closed it, an unexpected idea taking root. That was a thought, and it might bring her swift answers.

She began to look through her desk for the information she needed, about the optional training she'd sought once she'd joined UNIT, training first introduced by an old colleague of her father, an old colleague called Mike Yates.

* * *

Kate could fire a gun. The Doctor conveniently forgot that sometimes. Her father had taught her that science leads but of course he'd never truly left the army and Kate had come to agree with him that there were some places science couldn't go. Sometimes there needed to be different kinds of bullets. There needed to be firepower.

Kate didn't wear a uniform but she always carried a gun.

* * *

She didn't ask the Doctor for help. She could have found a way to get in touch with him. There were always ways to do it, whether he answered or not was another matter. And there was that niggle, the more Kate thought about it, the more it seemed to be connected to the Doctor in some way, that file...

So Kate reaquainted herself with ideas strongly influenced by Buddhism and with a case that had involved giant spiders and the amplification of mental capacity thanks to alien blue crystals. A large piece was still kept in the Black Archives.

Kate had been lucky enough to have Mike Yates teach her himself. There were some in UNIT who wouldn't have anything to do with him or his ideas, not after his disgraced exit. But Kate's father hadn't lost contact with him and while Kate's father hadn't been interested at all in meditation, he had noted, officially even, its practical usefulness on occasion when dealing with certain alien species and the messes they tended to make of troops' heads. Only on occasion, of course.

Not everyone was terribly happy with that kind of thing being practiced within UNIT but it had proven effective, more than once, especially when it came to realising what might have been done without people's knowledge or consent, when it came to people's minds.

Kate had always found it incredibly calming, exactly what was needed sometimes when dealing with politics and military action and family strife. She had always been grateful for it. Now, it could provide her with answers, if she was willing to go deep. She'd need help of course and it would most likely be painful. But she couldn't keep losing time, losing track of what she was doing. In her line of work, that was incredibly dangerous.

And Kate did not appreciate not being in control of her faculties, she didn't appreciate the unsettling agitation, she didn't appreciate it at all.

* * *

The Osgoods worked in the Black Archive. There were many among UNIT who gave them a wide berth and were extremely glad that the pair of them spent a lot of time shut away. They did great work together and contributed vastly to the science division. The fact was that one was a Zygon and they flatly refused to reveal which one.

Some personnel had come to Kate, demanding to know which was which, claiming it was only right for staff to know who they were working alongside. The Osgoods remained tight-lipped, refusing to blink. They both still needed to use their inhalers but they had a lot of steel in their spines as well.

Kate had worked alongside two Osgoods before; it had worked well. She had her suspicions about which was which but they were clear that they wouldn't answer that particular question. Kate wanted them working for UNIT so she didn't ask.

Now, they were working on one of the photoboards kept in the Black Archive, the ones that documented what the Doctor and his friends did on Earth and when. The Osgoods never dressed identically but they answered to the same name. They were humming as they worked.

Kate looked through the index and strode to where the blue crystal was stored. It was kept in a see-through box, easy enough to open. It wasn't dangerous to the touch though Kate didn't remove her gloves as she lifted it out. It was beautiful. She remembered her father's stories about the Doctor's regeneration.

She took a seat at the nearest table and set the crystal down in front of her. It really was quite captivating, she'd seen it before of course and had heard many stories about it, from her father and from Mike Yates. To use it though, that was going to be very different, beyond unsettling and unnerving. Still. Kate took a deep breath, she focused on the crystal and began to breathe in a careful deep rhythm. The Osgoods' humming had stopped.

Kate focused on the crystal, on what still niggled away at her mind. It wasn't long before she slipped into a practiced trance.

* * *

Kate didn't feel disorientated. She focused on the crystal's nearby presence, amplifying everything she did. It really was incredibly powerful. She focused on Mike Yates' teachings.

Anything could be rooted out, if it needed to be, if you were willing to push.

* * *

When Kate stirred from her trance, her nose was bleeding. The crystal was still intact. The Osgoods were stood close by, watching with great trepidation. Kate took a moment to reorientate herself – she was present and could move, she would engage with a more thorough check of her mental faculties shortly. Most tellingly, she could remember what she hadn't even realised she'd forgotten before. She knew what the Doctor had done. She couldn't recall the last time she'd felt this angry.

A firm line, her father had said, a firm line had to be held with the Doctor. He'd never embrace military action, he'd never see any way but his own. And as much as he loved Earth, he never stayed for long, not unless forced. He never dealt with the consequences of what he did. Kate had experienced that first hand, the meetings she'd had to attend in his stead, explanations she'd had to forge to cover for his actions. Part and parcel of having him on the payroll, she'd always known that, even if it did irk and frustrate, also part and parcel. But _this_...

"How many times have I forgotten what's in the boxes?" she asked, wiping away blood.

One of the Osgoods answered, "Fifteen."

Fifteen. The Doctor had wiped her memory fifteen times. He hadn't even asked. Her father had destroyed a species once, to protect the Earth. The Doctor had been reportedly furious. He never forgot, it seemed.

"And how many times have I done this?" Kate asked, her voice tightening.

"This is the first," the other Osgood replied with a slight crinkle of worry. "Something was different this time."

Kate got to her feet. Had her mind not been affected before? Or maybe she hadn't thought to attempt Mike Yates' teachings? What had triggered them?

"The file," she remembered quietly.

The paper file of the first known Zygon case that UNIT had faced, a file that she still didn't remember ordering. But had she ordered it herself? It was possible, a recent failsafe to be delivered to her the next time the Doctor showed up and there was talk of Zygons and the peace treaty mysteriously holding. Kate was going to buy Mike Yates a very large 'thank you' dinner.

She faced the Osgoods. One of them was, had been, Bonnie. And she hadn't pressed the buttons. The Doctor had trusted a Zygon but he hadn't trusted Kate. There was a different niggle present now, perhaps it had been there since she'd first cleaned up one of the Doctor's messes, perhaps it had been silent, suppressed, until now. Everything seemed sharper somehow. Anything was possible.

"Whichever of you it was, thank you, again, for not pressing the buttons."

Both Osgoods nodded, their expressions remaining identical, giving nothing away but their determination. "The boxes stay."

Because no one else knew the truth. Of course. A lie to keep everyone safe. Kate nodded back, her anger not abated.

"And so will my memory."

The Osgoods didn't say anything but they didn't disagree. Kate was going to have to formulate more fail-safes. The Osgoods had been part of the Doctor's, a last line of defence against the Zygons, against how far humanity, how far Kate herself, would go to protect the population. Kate couldn't regret the choices she'd made and forgotten. They were still hers, she still understood them.

The Doctor did too, because otherwise he wouldn't have told them the story of his war, of his regrets. Regrets that had changed him, no, solidified certain characteristics. And yet he still judged them.

Kate returned the crystal to its box and locked it up firmly, staring at it for a moment more. The Doctor had shaped people's minds and memories, and had then asked which Osgood was which. He'd claimed Earth as his second home, he'd protected it for years, but what he'd done, how was that any better than Kate's choices?

The Osgoods were still watching her, waiting for an order maybe, or what she would do next. Would they inform the Doctor? Could they? Did they see what Kate did? The niggle was growing. There were some lines...Kate held their gazes.

She wouldn't ever put down her gun. She didn't run from that. But when the Doctor next arrived on Earth, he'd find some things had changed, whether he liked it or not.

"Tell me everything."

 _-the end_


End file.
